As the Class of 2014 takes off their caps and gowns, each member of the graduating class leaves the school with unique experiences and personal understandings of what it means to be a Brandeis student.

In the aftermath of the controversy surrounding the University’s severance of its educational partnership with Al-Quds University last November, several members of the Brandeis community took to pubic forums to express their discontent with how the situation unfolded?including a longtime member of the advisory board of Brandeis’ International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life, Michael Ratner ’66.On May 28, The Jewish Daily Forward’s website published an open letter from Ratner to University President Frederick Lawrence, announcing and explaining his resignation from the advisory board.

A University security officer was transported to the hospital on Aug. 5 after a Tupperware container on a stovetop melted and created a significant amount of smoke in Pomerantz Hall.The security officer was exposed to a moderate amount of smoke after a University staff member accidently melted a Tupperware container on a stovetop.

The University has replaced Barnes & Noble Booksellers with Follett to take over bookstore operations, Director of Strategic Procurement John Storti wrote in an email to the Justice. Storti wrote that the contract between Follett and the University is a 10-year agreement, and took effect in mid-July.